About Karen

Karen loves social media and is a life blogger at Faith, Family, and Fibro. She writes about her past life as a single, liberal, and independent woman living in the city and her new life as a married, conservative, Christian wife and mama living in a small town, pursuing Proverbs 31 while dealing with a chronic illness. Karen loves Jesus and is blessed to be a wife for 10 years and mama to 10 year old Princess and 6 year old Superhero. Karen wants to encourage women and teach them that their lives are full of blessings and abundance, even if there is adversity. You can also find Karen on twitter as @faithfamilyfibr and facebook as karenfaithfamilyfibro.

Jesus is the Bread of Life but What Bread are you Eating for Life?

March 30, 2012 By 1 Comment

Morning comes and a cup of coffee goes down with no time to eat anything.

Afternoon comes and the kids want lunch so you nibble while you make their lunch and grab a chip here and there.

Oh no! It is time to think about what is for dinner so your hubby can have a meal when he gets home.

Again, you are nibbling your way thru the kitchen searching for an easy box to fix…hamburger helper, maybe mac n cheese with some hot dogs thrown in for protein.  You grab a soda or a pop and drink it while you are cooking.  Then maybe you grab a cookie that you made yesterday for the kids.

photo courtesy of tuchodi

Does this sound familiar?

The food and snack might be different but is this what your day might look like?  Are you too busy to take the time to feed your body with what God wants you to eat? What is your bread of life?

Christians know that Jesus is our Bread of Life.  He is the lamb sacrificed for us so we are saved from our sins. He sustains us and he is truly all the bread we need for our hearts and minds but we still need bread for our bodies to run.

Have you really thought about the bread that goes in to your body to make you live at your best?  What food is going into the  machine that God lets you take care of on this earth?  Are you taking care of your body like it is on loan from God?  Are you taking care of and watching what is going in your temple?

As moms we typically worry more about what is going in to our children’s bodies and put ourselves last.  As Christians we need to remember that we are the children of God.  We need to put healthy food in to these temples and make sure that food and our bodies will glorify God.  We need to show God that we are good stewards of our bodies because they were given to us to take care of on earth.

How are you doing with this?  I know that I would have been fired by now if God hired me to take care of my body.  I have not always done a good job for God.  The great thing is that we can change and we can change no matter how old we are.  It is never too late. God always give us grace.

Go thru your cupboards and get rid of the junk………the processed…………the sugary………….the unhealthy stuff.  An easy place to start is to look at the ingredients.  If you can’t pronounce the words or if there are more than five ingredients then it is probably a good idea to pitch it or donate it to a food shelter.   If you see high fructose corn syrup, sugar or artificial ingredients then get rid of them.   Some will have nothing left and the cupboards will seem bare.   Some families will freak out when they see all the “good” food going out the door.

But guess what?  You are left with only the healthy and if there is none there, then start with only buying fruits, vegetables, and real meat.  Think about Adam and Eve and what they had in the garden to eat.  I am thinking there was no McDonald’s or Burger King.  I don’t think there was mac n cheese or hamburger helper.  I don’t even think they had Oreos or Ruffles.

photo courtesy of Public Domain Photos

Start here and try to eat only food that God made and see how it makes you and your family feel after one week.  And don’t worry about recipes.  Eat the plain whole fruits and vegetables and grill the meat.  It doesn’t take any more time than throwing something in the microwave.

And if you have kids that have grown up with junk food, then do what I did……leave one basket with boxed fruit snacks, animal crackers, and cheese fishies and let them have those at their snack time.  They won’t feel like you are punishing them with all the healthy food in the house.   You can wean them gradually off of these unhealthy snacks as you do more real cooking and baking at home!

One more suggestion is to explain to your children that we are stewards of our bodies and that you as the mom have the job to not only feed and take care of yourself but also to feed and take care of your family.  It is your job to oversee what they put in to their bodies because God has given you the responsibility of taking care of them.

I will be praying for all of you as you go on this bread of life adventure.  It is an eye-opening and amazing way to live.  After you and your family get used to it you will never go back to throwing junk in your trunk!!!


Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. Genesis 9:3 NIV

Filed Under: Battles, Physical Tagged With: , , 1 Comment

I Just Keep Running

February 24, 2012 By 6 Comments

Run

photo courtesy of  Lel4nd

 

I am running.

I have been running and I keep running and running and running.  I can’t seem to stop.  And some days I feel as if I have gotten nowhere.  I am struggling again this week. Or should I say running harder?

No, I am not a runner or a jogger.

What do I mean by I am running?

I am running from myself, or maybe I should say from thoughts in my head, feelings in my heart, words from my mouth, actions from my body.  

And that means I am running from Satan.

Satan gets ahold of me and doesn’t let me go.  I keep running but I am held tight.  I keep trying to get out of his grasp but it doesn’t work, or it doesn’t work for long.  I want out of his grasp longer–actually, forever!

Some days I feel like I get somewhere and I feel good. My thoughts are pure and loving and so are my words and actions, but then Satan pulls me back again.  Why?  Why can’t I get to the finish line and just get out of this race?  Why do I keep losing the battle daily?

I just keep on running because that is all I know to do.  I  am running to HIM, my Father, because he is my only hope, my only help…………..my only stopping place.

One day, at the end of my race, I know HE will win and Satan will lose. But until then, I need daily help running so I don’t quit and give up and let Satan’s hold on me remain.

 1 Corinthians 9:24

The Message (MSG)

 24-25You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.

Do you ever feel like this…like you can’t stop running from Satan because he starts controlling you, your thoughts and your actions?

Filed Under: Battles, Emotional, Mental, Spiritual Tagged With: , , , , , , 6 Comments

Make a Revolution not a Resolution

January 13, 2012 By 6 Comments

photo courtesy of photobucket

How many resolutions do you have written down for the New Year?

How many resolutions have you already failed at within the first two weeks of the year?

And one last question…how much have you beaten yourself up because you already failed one of your resolutions?

Which do you think is worse for you?  Making a resolution and failing, or beating yourself up over failing?  I bet many of us mamas beat ourselves up more than we want others to think.  Do you have that voice in your head telling you how terrible you are, how undisciplined, lazy, unworthy you are because you have failed?

Do you think that is what God wants from us each New Year?

Do you think God is in favor of us making resolutions and then tearing ourselves down because we fail?

This is exactly why I gave up making New Year’s resolutions.  If I want to change something in my life, I don’t wait. I just do it when God tells me.  And if it doesn’t work then I can tweak it throughout the year.  That way the voice in my head has no choice but to keep being positive.  I never fail at a New Year’s resolution because I don’t make them.

I make daily changes and then I just tweak them to make them fit into my life and my journey the way God wants them to.

photo courtesy of photobucket

I let God take charge…….I pray and make a list of what God wants me to change.  I don’t just make a list of resolutions. And my list is ongoing.  It isn’t just a New Year’s list.  It is a life long God list.

Try it………..Start a revolution inside of you instead of making resolutions.  Start a war with that defeating voice in your head.  Don’t give it any more fire.  Stop the madness.

Pray about what God wants you to change in your life and do this each day–not just at the beginning of the year.  Ask God what steps you can take each day to accomplish this change that he wants.  You may not hear from him right away but be patient…..you will.  And make your list.  Make a list of what God wants you to change, not what you or that voice wants to change.

My revolution starts with praying and praying and praying.  Then I have to listen…listen for God and not that defeating voice in my head.  I refuse to let the voice take over and make me feel terrible about myself because I failed….failed in my terms or that voice’s terms...but never in God’s terms.

I can never fail at what God gives me to change…I can only sin, ask forgiveness, and try again each day. God will always give me grace and let me start over.  

Quit making resolutions…………start a revolution with God!

 

Filed Under: Emotional, Mental, Revolution, Spiritual Tagged With: , , , , 6 Comments